March 2004, left to right: Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., during a news conference near the vote on final passage of the bill that would make it a crime to harm the fetus of a woman in a wanted pregnancy but excludes abortion. (Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)

This past week, 31-year old Anna Yocca of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was charged with attempted murder. Her crime? Trying to self-abort her 24-week fetus with a coat hanger in a bathtub. When she became concerned with the heavy bleeding she was experiencing, she went to a hospital—which led to her arrest after the fetus was delivered, having sustained injuries to its lungs, eyes, and heart.

"The whole time she was concerned for her health, her safety and never gave any attention to the health and safety to the unborn child," Sergeant Kyle Evans told local CBS affiliate WTVF.

While the legal fate of Yocca remains to be seen—she is set to appear in court for the first time on Dec. 21—her case does call attention to the ongoing national debate regarding 20-week abortion bans.

This summer, Tennessee enacted a new state law mandating a 48-hour waiting period before a woman may receive an abortion after receiving counseling provided by the state to discourage abortion. The counseling must take place in-person and the waiting period may only begin following the administration of the counseling, thus resulting in a woman needing to make two separate trips within a span of days to her abortion provider.

The state has also mandated that all facilities that perform 50 or more surgical abortion annually must be regulated as ambulatory surgical treatment centers, a measure known as a "targeted regulation of abortion providers," or TRAP, to force the closure of abortion providers through regulations that in no way impact a woman's health or safety. (The width of hallways must be certain state criteria as an ambulatory surgical treatment, for instance.) Both outpatient clinics and private doctors offices must adhere to these new state-mandated requirements.

Supporters of 20-week abortion bans often cite "fetal pain" as a reason for needing to implementing such legislation; scientists and physicians, however, have found that a fetus is not viable outside of the womb until 26 weeks and will not develop the nerves and neural capacity to experience pain until the third trimester. According to the Guttmacher Institute, only 1 percent of abortions take place after 21 weeks, and are typically performed due to fetal abnormalities that would prove fatal to a baby once born.

Tennessee, a state whose elected positions are held mainly by Republicans, also could play a role in the future fights for a federal abortion ban. While the Senate blocked a bill that would have implemented a ban on all abortions performed after 20 weeks, nationwide, in August, Congressional leadership has promised to once again fight for the law in the upcoming year. Fourteen of the Republican candidates for president have already pledged to back such a measure should they win the highest office in the land, clearly not listening to the voices of the 61 percent of all voters who say abortions should be legal after 20 weeks.

In a statement, Hal C. Lawrence, M.D., EVP and CEO of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) said, "It is essential that women have safe, legal and accessible abortion care available to them. Research and experience have shown that where abortion is illegal or highly restricted, self-induction of abortion becomes more common. No woman should feel that her only option is one that puts her life at risk, but rather all women should receive respectful, empathetic care. Moreover, women should not be criminalized for taking desperate, painful steps to end their own pregnancy."